>>Turning this into a crisis (with the exception of that last one, which
rather creates its own crises) is the hard part for me. Or at least,
turning it into crises that I can use.<<
I can only think of two tricks for this:
- Something has to give. A lot of guidance on stories will tell you
that you need to create your crisis at the point that something has to
give. So in your conflict is around should women rule then you need to
find someway to put or threaten to put a woman into a position of
power. Her hsuband or father lies sick or dying for example. She makes
it clear that she intends to take the reins of power. Other forces
cannot stand the idea and work to prevent her accession.
- Steal, which is kind of what you are suggesting you do with
published scenarios and I am saying I tend to do with plots from novels
or movies. Of course you don't have to use HQ alone for this. The trick
here is to remember to steal the crisis idea and not necessarily the
implementation which won't be appropriate for HQ in a lot of cases
(dungeon crawls for instance).
Some examples of putting a conflict in crisis from films and literature:
- The Death Star is operational(Conflict: Rebels vs. Empire)
- The One Ring has been found (Conflict: Good vs. Evil)
- The Emperor is murdered by his son (Conflict: Republic vs. Empire)